Gold may be linked with recovery, but...

...once the recovery ensues, the case for gold (and the gold-mining industry) becomes less compelling. So reasons Pierre Lapointe, assistant chief economist with the National Bank. He's got gold stocks pegged as another kind of cyclical; these do well in recovery but not so well afterwards. He prefers tech, energy and consumer discretionaries for 2010.

Regarding gold itself:

"We have doubts about the viability of the recent bullion rally," he wrote. "Since we think U.S. employment could start growing again soon and rates could start rising sooner than the market expects, we believe the U.S. dollar could gain support at the expense of bullion."

Such is life when gold is mainstreamed. Instead of being the great alternative investment, it becomes one of many mainstream investments - and is treated as such.